Baffin Bay

Baffin Bay, arm of the North Atlantic Ocean with an area of 266,000 square miles (689,000 square km), extending southward from the Arctic for 900 miles (1,450 km) between the Greenland coast (east) and Baffin Island (west). The bay has a width varying between 70 and 400 miles (110 and 650 km). Davis Strait (south) leads from the bay to the Atlantic, whereas Nares Strait (north) leads to the Arctic Ocean. A pit at the bay’s centre, the Baffin Hollow, plunges to a depth of 7,000 feet (2,100 m), and the bay, although little exploited by humans because of its hostile environment, is of considerable interest to geologists studying the evolution of the North American continent.

The first European visitor to explore the bay was Robert Bylot, an English sea captain, in May 1616, but his name was not given to the entity, the honour going instead to his lieutenant, William Baffin. Even the latter’s discoveries came to be doubted until the later explorations of Captain (later Sir) John Ross, in 1818. The first scientific investigations since Bylot’s mapping of the shores were conducted in 1928 by a Danish and also by an American expedition, followed by another, more extensive survey in the 1930s. Patrol vessels, now aided by aircraft, have long investigated ice distribution in the region, and after World War II a Canadian expedition undertook complex investigations.

Baffin Bay’s oval floor is fringed by the submarine shelves of Greenland and Canada and by ledges at the mouths of sounds. Apart from the central pit, depths range from 800 feet (240 m) in the north to 2,300 feet (700 m) in the south. The bottom sediments are mostly terrigenous (originating on land) and include gray-brown homogeneous silts, pebbles, and boulders. Gravel lies everywhere.

The climate is severe, especially in winter, when northeast winds blow off Baffin Island (in the south) and in the bay’s northern sector. Northwesterly and southwesterly winds predominate in summer. Easterlies blow off the Greenland coast, and storms are frequent, notably in the winter. January temperatures average -4° F (-20° C) in the south and -18° F (-28° C) farther north, but the warm, dry foehn winds that sweep down from the valleys containing Greenland’s glaciers sometimes cause winter thaws. In July the temperature on the shores averages 45° F (7° C), with some snow. Overall, the annual precipitation off Greenland is 4–10 inches (100–250 mm), reaching twice this off Baffin Island.

Icebergs are dense even in August; the ice cover is formed from Arctic pack ice entering through the northern sounds, from local sea ice, and from icebergs that have broken off adjacent glaciers. By late October, ice fields reach Hudson Strait (between Baffin Island and the Quebec mainland), a region where coastal ice has already been thickening, mostly near Greenland, where prevailing easterly winds make for sheltered conditions. The centre of Baffin Bay is covered with compounded ice in winter, but in the north there is actually a permanent ice-free area (the “northern water”) that may be related to the warming effect of the West Greenland Current.

The salinity of Arctic waters flowing into Baffin Bay ranges from 30.0 to 32.7 parts per thousand, and their temperature warms up to 41° F (5° C) on the surface in summer, cooling in winter to 29° F (-2° C). The layers 1,300–2,000 feet (400–600 m) deep reach 34° F (1° C) and a salinity of 34.5 parts per thousand. Below 3,300 feet (1,000 m) in the central regions, the water—probably Atlantic in origin—reaches 31° F (-0.5° C) and has a salinity of 34.4 parts per thousand.

Tides are an important and interesting feature. Near Baffin Island and the shores of Greenland the tidal range is about 13 feet (4 m), reaching as much as 30 feet (9 m) where the water is forced through narrow passages. The tidal rate varies between 0.6 and 2.3 miles per hour (1 and 3.7 km per hour), and the direction of the tides varies by as much as 180°. This phenomenon produces unequal pressure on the fields of floating ice and results in the churning together and crushing of fresh, old, and pack ice.

The dissolution of salts in the water and the warming effect of southerly currents make Baffin Bay a haven for myriad life-forms. The numerous single-cell algae nourish small invertebrates, notably euphausiids (an order of small, shrimplike crustaceans), and these in turn are food for larger invertebrates, fish, birds, and mammals. Among the fish found in Baffin Bay are the Arctic flounder, four-horned sculpin (a spiny, large-headed, broad-mouthed fish), polar cod, and capelin (a small fish of the smelt family). Migrant fish from Atlantic waters include cod, haddock, herring, halibut, and grenadier (a tapering-bodied, soft-finned fish). Wildlife also includes ringed seals, bearded seals, harp seals, and—in the north—walrus, dolphins, and whales (including killer whales). Coastal birds include gulls, ducks, geese, eiders, snowy owls, snow buntings, ravens, gyrfalcons, and sea eagles.

The plant cover of the lands bordering the bay is similarly varied, with about 400 types represented. Shrubs include birch, willow, and alder and also halophytic plants (i.e., those adapted to salty soils), as well as lyme (or tussock) grass, mosses, and lichens. These provide food for rodents and the splendid caribou of the area. Polar bears and Arctic foxes also abound. Large-scale fishing remains undeveloped because of the perils of the heavy ice cover, but local residents—who are mainly Eskimo (Inuit)—carry on some fishing and hunting, often with traditional methods.